Tech firm Emotiv developed the advanced mind-controlled gaming device. The device, titled "The Epoc," will retail for $299 and provide advanced control by reading electrical signals generated among the brain. Among its key features is its ability to detect over 30 facial expressions, emotions and actions based on these signals.

OCZ vice president of technology development Dr. Michael Schuette is
excited about the announcement. "It is great ot see more efforts going
into the same brain-computer-interface direction."

Tan Le, president of US/Australian firm Emotiv, says her company has achieved the first commercial grade brain-computer interface. She describes its basic premise and potential, stating, "It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer. It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively."

Ms. Le describes the controller in more detail and Emotiv's unique line of business, explaining, "Emotiv is a neuro-engineering company and we've created
a brain computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain
and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and
control the game dynamically."

A point emphasized by Ms. Le is that while the technology is existing, it has never been brought to the consumer market before. She sums up this breakthrough, stating, "This is the first headset that doesn't require a large
net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and [doesn't]
require gel on the scalp. It also doesn't cost tens of thousands of dollars."

The Epoc relies on a technology known as Electroencephalography (EEG), a method of detecting of electrical signals from the brain. The technology, which has been used in the medical field for over a hundred years spawned the idea of a brain-based controller in the 1970s.

One useful application of The Epoc in video gaming is to control avatars, virtual digitalized representations of the user. By detecting facial expressions, a user wearing the headset who smiles will be mimicked by their in-game avatar. The ability to insert facial expressions, such as winks and smiles into games will give them new depth according to Ms. Le. For example, she said, If you laughed or felt happy after killing a character in a game then your virtual buddy could admonish you for being callous."

The device is worn comfortably on the users head and communicates wirelessly via a USB dongle plugged into the user's PC. Besides its EEG sensors it also makes use of a built in gyroscope. Among the supported abilities provided are excitement, meditation, tension and frustration; facial
expressions such as smile, laugh, wink, shock (eyebrows raised), anger
(eyebrows furrowed); and cognitive actions such as push, pull, lift,
drop and rotate (on six different axis).

The device allows users to manipulate objects like never before in three dimensional game space, leaving many to fantasize what a game of Half Life 2 might be like with the device. However the device isn't all fun and games. Emotiv is also working with IBM to market the device to provide "strategic enterprise business markets and virtual worlds". The device and its brethren are keys to developing a workable 3D internet and virtual communication, in the future, said Paul Ledak, vice president, IBM Digital Convergence.

Schuette adds, "As to what Emotiv has accomplished, it is virtually impossible for us to compare it with the Neural Impulse Actuator since we have never tested it, nor do we know of anybody outside their company who has."

While "The Epoc" may be a bit pricey, congratulations to Emotiv is deserved, for creating the first true consumer gaming brain interface. The only remaining test is to see how well it can handle an intense round of competitive gaming.

"You can bet that Sony built a long-term business plan about being successful in Japan and that business plan is crumbling." -- Peter Moore, 24 hours before his Microsoft resignation